So, the sister #31 BMW cycles back into the lead. Eng has gotten back to second and what does he have for pace relevant to his normal IMSA prototype co-driver for BMW, Augusto Farfus? Nolan Siegel could be doing a double stint. I think he will be. Will the #120 Porsche have to make an additional stop compared to the #04? We'll see. Elliott Skeer currently driving. The edge to the Porsche and the two of them are nose to tail in Pro-Am points. This is sensational! Wouldn't it be amazing if they were on the same strategy? This is so incredibly close! A seesaw affair. Nolan Siegel fresh out of the pits in a place to go for the title, turning 19 years old next month, from Palo Alto, California, racing in Asian Le Mans Series and in Indy Next open wheel cars.
Callum Ilott tells us that at Wright Motorsports they probably need another stop after having to box early. Still three hours to go. Trouble for Ilott with the radio. He did his job and the radio was the only problem. Nolan Siegel must be told that the #120 needs to make one more stop. Just sit there, run your laps, stay clean. He will turn 18, not 19, will Nolan Siegel and now, Siegel is pushing hard on Elliott Skeer a month shy of his 18th birthday. Why is Bill Riley not on the horn to Nolan Siegel saying, "mate, you don't need to race this car." From a racing aspect it is great. From a strategy aspect, it's not on.
You don't want a cut down tire and getting the car into limp home mode back to the lane. Nurse the car. Don't thrash it. A warning for blocking on the previous lap for Nolan Siegel. The team has signaled to Nolan to cool it for a wee while. A 17-year-old kid, driving a Mercedes-AMG GT3 to race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. As enticing as it is to go for it, he needs to know to cool it. Other drivers are oblivious to the details and just want to push, push, push.
You don't want to drop back and have to work with a massive margin. He is doing all he needs to right now, Siegel is. Jules Gounon in third place, moving around but trying to find his way through a lead battle in another class. Craft Bamboo want a repeat win but it has been tough sledding thus far. Inside Nolan Siegel he goes. Farfus and Eng are 33 seconds apart as the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche comes to the pit lane. No fuel for the #120. They are doing the reset. They won't lose a full lap but are losing track position that they'll have to gain back.
This is not the 112 second stop, not the full Monty. The only way out of their predicament is a non-timed stop without fuel, for the #04 I believe. They are dependent on a Full Course Yellow hitting before the end of the race and they still need to be perfect. A drive through penalty would totally change the equation. Right now though #120 is a minute plus behind the #04. The strategy, excuse me, that I was talking about I think is for #120. Onofrio Triarsi being harried by Matt Bell. Half has been great and half of the weekend has been a bear, just lilke their half orange and half gray paint scheme. I think Matt Bell is at the wheel of it.
It is either one of them who could be driving and closing is Eddie Cheever III., in the #555 Sky Tempesta Racing Ferrari, son of Eddie Cheever Jr. who drove Formula 1 for Arrows and sports cars for Jaguar in the Group C days. Eddie Cheever III, spent his formative years in Italy. Eddie Cheever Jr. was born in Phoenix, Arizona. Just this year, Eddie Cheever III., Jonathan Hui, and Chris Froggatt won a championship in SRP GT World Challenge Europe in a McLaren 720S GT3 just last weekend as Onofrio Triarsi is 13th in the #33 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3, a Florida Ferrari dealer.
Timing and scoring confirms the #27 TR3 Mercedes has Kenton Koch in the car. Kenton Koch is here racing in Pirelli GT4 America and he won with Kevin Boehm in race one yesterday. He will be joining Boehm tomorrow for the finale for Pirelli GT4 America, in race two. Keep it on the island, Kenton. The Romanelli brothers had to be happy with their win earlier in the year. The low setting sun is now right in the driver's eyes, not for long, but they are driving into the setting sun. Last year this race was the first event to run into the darkness on purpose.
Onofrio Triarsi in 13th place. There are no lights at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and never have been. The #53 MDK Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R is in the pit lane as we see this track has maintained it's character for so long, owned by the Hulman George family from 1946-2020. BimmerWorld are in the lane as well in the #94 BMW M4 GT3. We crossed the 500 mile threshold just a few minutes ago.
I wonder how important it is for Eddie Cheever III. to win at Indianapolis. Race every night. Use the place. But you are still not in any way an equivalent to the Indianapolis 500. There is tradition that keeps coming to the speedway. So many forms of motor racing compete here in the racing capital of the world. We are closing in on the 1,000-kilometer threshold. The distance record is 328 laps and we could see that eclipsed tonight. We have had one and only one Full Course Yellow but there's still two and a half hors to go.
We have been green flag from 12:15 P.M. this afternoon, Eastern Time. The ppints gap, 218 points for RS1 and 185 for Bimmerworld. The margin is 33 points. In their first year in GT3 with a rookie driver like Eric Filgueiras, he could be a champion. Boom, on pole for his first GT3 race he ran at Sonoma at the beginning of the year. No worries transferring from GT4 to GT3. Bryan Sellers running ninth overall and second in Pro-Am at DXDT Racing. Bryan Sellers asked Thomas Sargent if he wanted to join, the Porsche Cup team he races for subleasing part of the shop from DXDT and Thomas Sargent was approached about being a Silver-rated driver for the team in this race.
Sargent raced in the Bathurst 6 Hour last year in production cars. He started racing single seaters Down Under and won the 2021 Australian Formula Ford championship and won Porsche Sprint Challenge Australia in 2022 racing for McElrea Racing in Porsche Carrera Cup North America. A close shave for the Triarsi Ferrari trying to move out of the way in turn seven and nearly spun out! Australian drivers, we have a lot of respect for them because there are heavy taxes for importing car parts and so on to race, run a race team or develop a driving career. Many young Australians go to the U.K. or America.
A great motorsports culture in Australia and New Zealand especially the Bathurst 1,000 in Australian Supercars, "The Great Race" running tomorrow. David Reynolds, Matthew Payne, and Kevin Estre, the Porsche factory driver. A rising Australian star did some good things, in F1, Oscar Piastri. Shane van Gisbergen, a New Zealander, winning on his NASCAR debut in Chicago since Johnny Rutherford won a qualifying race for the Daytona 500 and Scott McLaughlin, best finishing Penske driver in IndyCar points.
Oh boy. Triarsi and Koch almost clatter into each other! Farfus has to give it up through turn 12! Yikes! First to second stable with a 31 second gap, Farfus to Eng as he moves inside Kenton Koch and there's Augusto Farfus wrecking into the Ferrari with the suspemsion all busted up! Onofrio Triarsi's car also wounded! The left front is askew! Augusto Farfus and Philipp Eng have not had success in the prototype effort as wel. He pranged that BMW! Jeepers creepers! Now we wait for the second place WRT BMW and he is back on the track trundling 'round as the sister #30 car has taken the lead!
The plot thickens. The game is afoot. The jug is up. We will stay green but the #08 is also in strife with Bryan Sellers at the wheel of it. Two years ago, Callum Ilott out front caught out in a GT4 car and retires the car. It was about this stage of the race with just over two hours to go. Major damage to the BMW. Game over at WRT for the #31. They were managing the lead and it has all gone pear shaped. Suspension damage. Phillipp Eng the one and only bullet left in the gun for WRT. There are other nominated BMW's but they cannot clinch the IGTC manufacturers' cup.
Farfus admits he made a mistake, but he also points out that the lapped cars do not notice the faster cars coming. Respect the blue flags being waved by the marshals and don't block. Farfus was late trying to make a move on the Mercedes and the Ferrari was in the way, but it was not entirely the fault of the Ferrari as the #30 sister BMW M4 GT3 is in the lead while the #31 is headed back to Gasoline Alley. Pit stop time for the #38 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3 as well. Neil Verhagen at the wheel of it, and they have had fueling rig troubles, longer pit stops and more frequent refueling woes.
The #94 BimmerWorld team has had the same issue. The #77 Craft Bamboo Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Jules Goinon is now second behind Philipp Eng. This might halve the gap into the finale of the championship. We still have over two hours to go. Maro Engel is now in the #999 Mercedes-AMG GT3, the Team GruppeM car with connections from Germany and the Far East. Mercedes does not have the pace of the BMW's, but they haven't made any mistakes whereas BMW has had a few ice cream headaches. Madison Snow now leading the Pro class in GT World Challenge America sharing with Jan Heylen and Trent Hindman.
The overall leader is coming, and Snow is the last car on the lead lap. Nolan Siegel still knocking down his drive time. Eng remains the overall leader. We still have two hours and ten minutes of racing remaining. We'd never predicted the incident with Augusto Farfus who has been extremely disciplined. You have not missed much in the last few moments but a moment ago we saw the #08 Mercedes-AMG GT3 slow. Right rear suspension failure. The inserts came out of where the control arm bolts to the upright. The #08 DXDT Mercedes team is out. We will see them next year with a new Chevrolet Corvette Z-06 GT3.R.
I take that back. DXDT will fix the suspension woes and try to get back out and then finish this motor race. DXDT are excited to be a part of the Corvette and they have also had a great position with Mercedes Benz. Two Corvette's coming next year, the C8 GT3.R which has been on display all week here at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The #31 BMW M4 GT3 is now back on the road, so they are not out of this race yet. They are 12 laps down. They will soldier on and get to the finish. We will have a fully FIA GT3 homologated Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GT3 customer car.
Corvette Racing have run a reworked GT Le Mans car but there will be a major debut with not only the Corvette in GT3 but also Multimatic with the new Ford Mustang GT3. Mustang vs. Corvette should be thrilling to watch amid the European brands and we could see Ford vs. Cadillac in Formula 1 as well and of course Cadillac also has their LMDh prototype program in IMSA weith Ganassi and Action Express and Ganassi in FIA WEC.
Madison Snow head to the pit lane and will be able to do it on one more stop, looking for three straight Pro class wins, a hat trick, after sweeping Sebring two weekends ago. Madison Snow climbs out and Trent Hindman will be getting into the car as the tires are changed and the fuel is added. More pit action as well with TRG Aston Martin still recovering from their pit lane speeding issue.
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